


Of Hearts and Yampers

by suibian_xx



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, Valentine's Day, yamper shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29505534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suibian_xx/pseuds/suibian_xx
Summary: Sonia just wants Hop to be honest about his feelings. Hop isn’t even sure what he’s feeling in the first place.alt; Yamper is a tiny ball of chaos and accidentally acts as a wingman
Relationships: Hop/Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	Of Hearts and Yampers

**Of Hearts and Yampers**

_'Okay, this isn't a big deal. Just be cool.'_

Though on the inside, Hop felt anything but cool. He continued to stare blankly at his computer screen and absently twirl his pen around his fingers, trying his best to calm himself. 

"Woof!"

He jumped and looked down as Sonia's yamper plopped himself beside his chair, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he tilted his head up to meet Hop’s gaze.

_'See? Even he thinks you're being weird. Just go ahead and ask.'_

Yamper barked once again, one that sounded like encouragement. Hop responded with a nod and took a deep breath.

"Hey, Sonia, is it okay if I have the next couple of days off?" he asked, mentally patting himself on the back at how nonchalant he sounded.

"Oh? What's the occasion?” Sonia’s gaze remained focused on her computer screen.

"Just some friends are coming back home, and I wanted to spend some time with them," he replied, continuing to twirl the pen around his finger. So far so good.

"Some friends, hmm?"

Her voice sounded almost disinterested, not at all giving any indication she thought he was asking anything odd...

"So that means Gloria finally has a day off then, doesn't it?"

He released a noise of surprise and dropped his pen. Yamper rushed to scoop it up and offer it back to him with the brightest look on its face.

He took that as a sign of encouragement, retrieved his pen, and tried to compose himself.

_'Be cool, Hop. Be cool.'_

"I-I mean Victor is coming home too... but yeah, Gloria has a break and will be back home for awhile."

Sonia absently nodded her head, her eyes focused on the screen before her. He held his breath. Maybe he'll be able to make it out of this unscathed after all, free of any teasing and—

"So where are you taking Gloria, Hop?"

He flinched and dropped his pen once again. Yamper barked and scrambled to chase after it as it rolled across the room. 

Sonia smirked as she lifted her gaze from the screen to look at him, a mischievous glimmer shining in her eyes.

"What kind of flowers are you getting her? Ooh, did you pick out what you'll be wearing? You know I don't mind helping you out a bit since you’re finally going to confess that you're madly in—"

"We're just friends!"

After that outburst, he knew he wasn't being cool about it anymore.

 _'I guess the teasing was inevitable...'_ He sighed and retrieved his pen from Yamper's mouth. The pokémon barked once and sat down next to him, looking rather pleased with himself. 

Sonia stood up and moved closer to Hop, her eyes narrowing as she studied him.

When all that Hop did was blink back at her, she released a frustrated groan. "Are you seriously not taking her out on Valentine's Day?"

Before Hop can reply she waved one hand to shush him, the other massaging the bridge of her nose. "Just when I thought you're finally making a move after pining for her for so long... I mean, why else would you want to see her?"

"To have a perfectly platonic get-together with my childhood best friends?"

At his response, Sonia's soul seemed to leave her.

"Fine, fine! You're free to go regardless... But I keep telling you, with the amount of attention she gets, you need to do something now before someone else does." 

With a frustrated huff, Sonia returned to her seat, noticeably typing on her keyboard with more force than necessary.

"But we really are just good friends..." he grumbled to himself.

"Bark! Bark!" 

He looked back at Yamper, who looked at him before returning to Sonia's side.

A sigh left his lips. Just when he thought the pokémon was on his side on this one time...

* * *

_"Gloria!"_

_The young girl turned around and saw Hop running over to her, a conspiratorial grin on his face and a small bag gripped in his arms._

_"Look at all the sweets that Leon got for Valentine's Day!" Hop seated himself beside her and handed her the bag, eyes sparkling at the sight._

_"Wouldn't he be upset you took all of these without asking him?" she asked, tentatively looking inside._

_"Pfft, this isn't even all of it. He won't mind if we took some," said Hop._

_"Should we get Victor?"_

_Just as she asked the question, she caught herself. He never did like sweets and might be the spoilsport who tells them to give it back. They exchanged a look of mutual understanding before returning to the bag of sweets._

_"What should we try first? There should be some really fancy chocolates that I was dying to try and-"_

_He jumped when Gloria squeaked in surprise. Hop was going to question her when she pulled a peculiar box from inside the bag._

_"Yamper butt pastries!"_

_Hop only stared at them in confusion. “Oh... I didn’t see what exactly those were. Sorry, I should have looked better because that looks..."_

_"They look so cute!" Gloria turned the box around so she could admire the confections, her lips curled into the brightest smile. "Who would have thought bakeries would even make these?"_

_"Yeah... it's pretty surprising."_

_Though, Hop found himself not minding it so much since she looked so happy. The way her eyes shined at it, the little gasps of amazement..._

_At the time, he never thought to examine that warm feeling any further, dismissing it as just the pleasure of seeing his best friend happy and nothing more._

...

..

.

Little did he know he would be contending with those confusing feelings on full blast years later.

* * *

Being alone in his room with his thoughts definitely did not help.

 _'Gah, this is so stupid.'_ He dropped his head on his desk, hoping the act would help hammer the weirdness out of him. _‘And I have no idea why whatever Sonia said bothered him so much.’_

He’s known Victor and Gloria for years. Sure he knew he knew he always admired her - both as a person and a trainer. Yet all of a sudden he started having butterfrees fluttering in his stomach when someone so much mentions her name, or how transfixed he was on her whenever she was around. 

_“I keep telling you, with the amount of attention she gets, you need to do something now before someone else does.”_

He shook his head and slapped his cheeks. No, he’s just a little confused right now. They were just best friends and nothing more to it. He doesn’t care about the mere possibility of someone else possibly seeing her.

And those yamper butt pastries he was planning on giving her? Purely for nostalgia and nothing more. 

_‘Just because I was going to ask her to a platonic meal with me doesn’t mean anything.’_

Still, the mere thought of asking her had his heart pounding, his stomach curling into tight knots. In an effort to calm himself, he glanced at the photos on his desk, scanning over the faces of his mom, Leon, Victor, before finally settling on one of just him and Gloria.

An odd thought popped into his head.

_‘I could just practice saying it.... no one’s around so it’s nothing weird.’_

He looked around as another precautionary measure and took a deep breath, meeting photo Gloria’s gaze.

“Hey, you think Valentine’s Day is really overrated too. right?”

He paused. Well, that sounded odd. 

“You’d never guess what I found at this bakery one day. It’s those silly pastries when we’re kids. Do you want them?”

He shook his head and pondered another moment. 

“So this new restaurant opened up, and I think you’d like it…”

He cringed and almost fell to his knees in frustration. Why was fil his so hard?

“Not going to lie, but I’d be embarrassed too if I said something that bold.”

Hop jumped and spun around to see Victor standing in the middle of his room, arms over his chest and brow quirked.

Victor glanced behind him, eying the picture frames, his lips curling in amusement. “Not sure what was worse. Imagining you saying those things to my sister or hearing you actually say it out loud.”

Hop quickly crossed the room, feeling his face flush to a beet red. 

“H-hey, Victor! What are you doing here? I thought you’re arriving tomorrow with Gloria.” He gingerly looked around, hoping his sister wouldn’t pop out of thin air to surprise him. 

“Gloria’s still coming tomorrow. I came home earlier to surprise Mom,” he replied. “Your mom let me in when I was going to see you.”

Hop was tempted to remind him he could have knocked but bit his tongue. “How long were you standing there?”

“Long enough.” His head tilted to the side, his brows furrowing together. “Yamper butt pastries? What’s that about?”

“It’s a long story. Don’t ask....” Hop blurted out, fighting every instinct to run and hide under the nearest rock for all of eternity. 

Victor gave him a look before seeming to let the matter go, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder. 

“Well if you’re not busy, maybe you can help me organize all this.”

“What do you mean?” Hop glanced down to see a large bag at Victor’s side. “What’s that?”

“Letters and gifts from her fans and admirers.” He peeked inside, slowly pulling out different items into the table. “Thought I could help organize things for Gloria so she has an easier time going through them.”

“You’re just looking to see if there’s anything you’d want in there, aren’t you?”

Victor shamelessly nodded his head. 

"It’s not like she could eat all of this anyways.” He carefully pulled out box after box, examining each item carefully. “Looks like they’re all sweets though, which I can’t say is too surprising with Valentine’s Day right around the corner.”

Hop shouldn’t be surprised either. Ever since she became champion, her popularity was indisputable. He knew she never let fame get to her head, and she always tried her best to remain humble. 

That didn’t stop him from feeling the way he did though. 

He peeked inside and helped Victor pull out the different items - some of the packaging was from fancy bakeries or confections from other regions. 

_‘It’d probably be embarrassing to give those yamper pastries if she’s getting these great presents, wouldn’t it?’_ he thought with a frown.

“Oh speaking of presents, what are you getting Gloria?” 

The teasing grin vanished from Victor’s face as he watched Hop sullenly organize the letters and gifts, clearly deep in thought. 

* * *

“Hop? What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming in today?” Sonia asked, blinking at the sight of the young man at his desk. Yamper barked in excitement and ran to Hop’s side. 

Hop didn’t glance up from the computer screen, barely paying any mind to the excitable pokémon or the young professor’s inquiring look. 

“I just realized that there’s a lot of work that I wanted to finish up.”

She drew closer to examine his face, noting it was focused, oddly unreadable. 

“Ah, so does Gloria have a lot of dates after all?” she teased, punching his arm playfully as she gauged his reaction. 

Instead of what she was expecting, Hop suddenly stilled. His expression appeared despondent all, a heaviness appearing to weigh on his shoulder. She blinked at such an unexpected response. She glanced down at Yamper, who whimpered softly and nudged his leg, clearly worried. 

Sonia released a sharp breath. “You’re still young, Hop. I think it’s better for you to be out there than stuck in a lab all day. What would happen if someone really came along and just confessed their love to her?”

This time Hop visibly flinched, hunching over his desk slightly. Sonia mentally chided herself and supposed this really isn’t the time for teasing. 

She stepped forward to gently pat his back. “I do think you should go see her, Hop, but I understand if you have your reasons. I’m here if you want to talk about it?”

When Hop didn’t reply, Sonia conceded and walked over to her desk while Yamper remained by his side. "I'm only here to grab a few things here and will be out of the lab for the rest of the day. If you need anything, just call me, alright?"

Hop made a noise of affirmation, continuing to look blankly at the keyboard, mentally kicking himself. How could he explain to Sonia when he felt so confused about what he was feeling? 

_'And why would I care if Gloria has admirers? They're probably much cooler or more accomplished than me anyways...'_

He dropped his head into his hands. He can’t face Gloria when he's being like this. She hasn't been home for awhile, and he didn't want to ruin it with the fact he's in this weird funk he found himself in.

_'I just need to clear my head and distract myself.'_

All of a sudden, a single realization popped into his head that helped brighten his mood.

"Say, Sonia, I don't think you mentioned you were taking a day off today," he said, picking his head up and turning to face her. 

“Oh, I didn't? It must have slipped my mind," she replied airily, rummaging through her drawers in search of something.

"Uh-huh." A cheeky grin curled at his lips. "Funny, Leon’s going to be around the area too and..."

"Shush, before I actually give you work to do while you're here." She shot him a sharp look, her cheeks flushing a light red.

Hop only chuckled with Yamper yipping happily beside him at the momentary improvement to his mood.

She grabbed some files from her drawer and closed it with an emphatic slam. "Again, just call me if something comes up."

He grinned at her as she stomped away, her sympathies long gone during that moment.

"And watch Yamper for me too. Thanks!"

"Wait, what?!"

Before he could protest, Sonia already rushed out the door. He huffed, and looked down at the pokémon before him who had taken an interest to a squishy toy lying around in the lab. 

Hop released a sigh in resignation. 

_‘I guess I should text Mom that I really am going to stay here for a bit.’_ He looked down and reached inside his bag to only freeze in his place. 

All he saw was a box of yamper butts. 

He resisted the urge to slap himself at his own stupidity. 

He thought the risk of someone stumbling upon it was too great so he thought it safer to carry it around with him… and of course, he’d forget to bring his phone in the process. 

_‘Mom should know where I am...’_

He stared at the offending pastries, the very source of his suffering, and wondered what he should do with them. 

_‘I guess I could eat it as a snack while I’m here...’_

“Bark! Bark!”

He turned and watched Sonia’s yamper chase its own tail at a dizzying speed before ultimately stumbling down in exhaustion. 

Hop blinked and shrugged his shoulder. _‘Yeah, forget eating it. I guess...’_

* * *

Well, that wasn’t productive at all.

Yamper barked at him as if to respond to his thought. Hop felt his brow twitch at the carefree pokémon, the very source of his exasperation. 

He wasn’t sure what got into Yamper, but the entire time he insisted on receiving Hop’s full attention, almost threatening to wreak havoc on the lab if Hop didn’t keep him in check.

 _‘If Sonia left him with me to keep me distracted, it worked.’_ He sighed at the thought. _‘Maybe I should have just taken the day off and just skipped town for a bit...’_

Not that physically running away from his problems would help, but at least things would be quieter. He flinched when Yamper barked up at him again.

Suddenly he stopped in his place. He glanced over to a familiar house and saw lights in the window. 

_‘She’s probably home right now.’_

He hesitated a moment and looked down at his bag, peeking inside to look at the silly pastries. _‘Why am I being so weird about this?’_

They were good friends and have been through everything together. He couldn’t possibly be thinking of anything else, let alone realizing he might actually be in l—

He slapped himself on the cheek at the abrupt thought. He was just confused about his emotions and what needed to be dealt with before he saw Gloria. He nodded his head at the thought and quickly turned down the path to his home. Yamper rushed behind him, struggling to keep up with his brisk pace. 

_‘It’s better this way… She probably wants to spend time with her family right now anyways than see me—‘_

He almost tripped over himself when he saw a girl kneeling down beside his family’s wooloo, right in front of his house. 

_‘Why the heck is Gloria here?!’_

Not that the exact reason mattered. With the way his heart was breathing in his chest, the sickening knot in the pit of his stomach, he definitely was not emotionally ready to see her yet. 

He held his breath. It seemed like she was too preoccupied with the wooloo and hadn’t noticed him yet. 

_‘Slowly, Hop...just back away slowly....’_

“BARK BARK BARK.”

The wooloo brayed in shock and dashed away as Yamper barreled forward to chase it.

Gloria seemed perplexed by the sight before slowly turning around to meet his gaze. 

_‘Just my luck....’_

As if things couldn’t get worse, the confusion on her face vanished in an instant and was replaced with anger. “Hop!”

He flinched at her harsh glare and did his best to regain his composure.

"H-hey, Gloria! Fancy seeing you here, and, um, welcome home?" he said, weakly waving his hand.

He tried his hardest to hold his ground even when she marched up towards him. Her lips were pursed into a pout, and her brows were furrowed together. 

“Oh, so you _did_ remember I was coming home. Where were you?”

“I was in the lab working on something. We’ve been busy and stuff lately....”

That sounded even lame in his ears, and it didn’t help calm the furious look on Gloria’s face. 

_‘I’m not even sure why she’s upset, but I really don’t like it...’_

As he tried to rack his brain for possible transgressions, his thoughts were disrupted when she shouted, “And you couldn’t even answer a call or text the entire time?”

“Oh, I accidentally left my phone at home,” he replied, finding his dumb brain oddly fixated on one thought.

_‘She was.... trying to call me?’_

“Well, it got me worried since even your mom didn’t even know where you were!” she yelled, her pout deepening at the admission. 

“You... were worried?” Now his dumb heart was beating even faster in his chest. 

“Y...yeah, of course. I almost thought you were avoiding me or something,” she admitted, her voice sounded softer, and her lips turned into a frown. 

_‘Seeing her sad is worse than when she's mad...’_

But how could he explain himself? Admitting the truth likely wouldn’t make the situation any better...

"Woof!"

Hop looked down when he felt something tug on his bag. Yamper was jumping to nip at it, likely bored after chasing after the wooloo. 

“Hey, cut it out.” Before Hop could react, Yamper managed to yank the bag off his shoulder. He dragged the bag around in the dirt before eventually releasing it in front of Gloria’s feet, looking pleased at his accomplishment.

When Gloria picked it up, blinking as she saw a glimpse of what was inside. 

His heart dropped. _‘Oh no.’_

“Hop, what’s this?” Gloria said, gingerly lifting the box out to get a better look. 

This couldn’t be happening. Sonia’s darn yamper did not just turn one of his nightmares into a reality. 

Before he could stop her, her eyes widened. “No way! Are these yamper butt pastries?”

It took every fiber of his being to not jump into the nearest ditch. 

“Y-yeah. Like when we were kids...” 

He wondered if he should run now. This was way too embarrassing for him to handle. 

“How did you even find these? I haven’t seen these kinds of pastries in ages,” she said, her mouth agape. 

“I-I had to go to several different pastry shops before I found those...” He rubbed his arms as he contemplated his escape routes. “I know it’s silly since I saw all those nice presents when Victor was sorting your stuff...”

_‘Why am I still talking right now? This is so embarrassing...’_

“I mean, the gifts from fans are nice and all, but this probably has to be the best gift I’ve received so far.”

It felt like he was struck dumb. He blinked, unsure if he even heard correctly. He turned to look at Gloria to see her smiling brightly, eyes softening at the sight. 

“Besides, what makes it better is that you got it for me after all.”

His eyes widened and he turned to look at her, staring at the gentle smile on her face. He swallowed thickly, feeling his heart starting to hammer against his chest. 

Before he could think of how to respond, Gloria clapped her hands together. 

“Oh! I also had a gift for you too. That’s why I was trying so hard to find you.” She fished inside her own bag and presented the item with a dramatic flourish. “Ta-dah!”

Hop blinked, dumbly taking the plush item into his hand. “Is this....”

“Yeah, it’s an applin plushy! Isn’t it cute?”

His heart nearly leaped out of his chest. “D-d-do you know what it means to give an applin to someone?”

She only blinked in confusion. “What do you mean? Is there something wrong with it?”

“N-nothing...”

She was right. It doesn’t mean anything to give a doll as it might have with an applin itself. Still, the possible implication rang in his head, compounding the warm feeling in his chest. 

_‘Maybe... I don’t see her as just a friend after all...’_

“Hey, there you guys are.” 

Hop jumped when he noticed Victor appear behind him. 

“Victor! When did you get here?” Hop asked, wincing when he heard a nervous tremble in his voice. 

_‘Note to self, I need to talk to him about this sneaking business…’_

“Just now. Gloria was taking a while, and Mom wanted me to go look for her. I thought you got mobbed by fans on your way to Hop’s or something.” 

His sister only meekly smiled, mumbling her apologies.

Victor paused a beat, as if considering something, before he nonchalantly added, “Oh yeah, Hop, weren’t you telling me yesterday about this new restaurant that opened up?”

“H-huh? I mean, yeah, I think I mentioned something about it?” he replied, staring at him at such an abrupt question. What was with him all of a sudden?

Gloria’s eyes widened. “Oh, there is? I guess I have been away from home for a while!”

“Well, you should go try it. It’s apparently pretty good.”

Their eyes met for a moment, and Victor shot him a pointed look.

Before Hop could decipher what it meant, Gloria said, “Yeah, we should go, Hop!”

He felt a sudden warmth touch his face at the question, but he quickly composed himself. “S-sure, that’d be cool with me. Victor, don’t you want to come along too?”

“Nah, I already mentioned to her that I’m busy tomorrow,” he said, “So you should go with her instead.”

It took a second too long for Hop to realize what Victor was doing. Victor winked at him when Gloria wasn’t looking, and Hop tried his best not to shoot him a stern glare.

_‘I’m not sure if I should thank him or not…’_

“I’ll come by your house tomorrow, okay?” When he turned and blinked at her in response, Gloria repeated with the pastries close to her chest, “I’ll come by your house so we can walk together there? Sound good?”

 _‘Walk… together?’_

He found himself only able to nod his head, unable to form any other intelligible action. He scarcely could hear anything else. All he could ascertain were additional parting words and the twins finally made their way back home, leaving Hop at alone with his thoughts. 

_‘I mean I guess I finally figured out my feelings… but what do I do now?’_ He groaned to himself.

He felt Yamper nudge his leg, looking up at him with those big, wide eyes. He smirked and knelt down to pick him up. “You’re such a pain… I guess I have you to worry about for the rest of the day, don’t I?”

Figuring out his feelings was more than enough for now anyway. He’ll work on what he should do about them after he meets up with Gloria tomorrow…

He froze in his place as he realized something.

_‘Wait, is this considered a date?! Or are we just hanging out platonically on Valentine’s Day?’_

What does even a guy who realized he likes his best friend even do in this sort of situation?!

_‘...Is it worth asking Sonia for advice?'_

He groaned to himself and looked up to the sky, already hearing all the teasing. In turn, Yamper followed his gaze, hoping instead to be answered in treats.

**Author's Note:**

> I was trying to get this out on Valentine's Day, but life happened and that didn't happen haha
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading!


End file.
